November 13, 2026 · Knowledge Management Made Simple
Imagine reading instructions for building a bookshelf.
Twenty pages of text. No pictures.
“Easy!” says Pavel.
Two hours later, the bookshelf has three extra legs.
Oxana looks at it.
“Wonderful! You’ve invented a wooden spider!”
Psychologist Richard Mayer studied how people learn from words and pictures.
His research showed that meaningful illustrations can improve understanding, while unnecessary decorations may distract us.
Let’s explore three funny examples.
1. The Impossible Paper Boat
Pavel reads instructions for folding a paper boat.
“Fold the upper corners toward the centre.”
“Which corners?”
Oxana shows him a simple diagram.
“Oh! Those corners!”
Five minutes later, the boat floats.
What did we learn?
Relevant pictures combined with words can make explanations easier to understand.
This is the Multimedia Principle.
2. The Furniture Puzzle
Oxana assembles a small table.
The instructions are on page 2.
The diagrams are on page 47.
“Excellent!” says Pavel. “A book and a treasure hunt!”
Oxana places the instructions beside the corresponding pictures.
Suddenly, everything makes sense.
What did we learn?
Words and related pictures are easier to connect when presented close together.
This is the Spatial Contiguity Principle.
3. The Dancing Website
Pavel opens an educational website.
There are fireworks, dancing bananas and background music.
Somewhere, hidden between two bananas, is the actual lesson.
“Beautiful!” says Oxana. “But what are we learning?”
They remove the unnecessary decorations.
What did we learn?
Irrelevant material can distract learners.
This is the Coherence Principle.
The Big Idea
Good multimedia learning isn’t about adding more pictures.
It’s about choosing useful visuals, placing them appropriately and removing distractions.
Why This Matters for Knowledge Management
Clear diagrams, labelled screenshots and simple visual guides can make complex knowledge easier to understand and reuse.
What About Artificial Intelligence?
AI can help create diagrams and illustrated instructions. But generated visuals must be checked for accuracy.
Richard Mayer’s Words
“People learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.”
Source: Richard E. Mayer, Multimedia Learning, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
The takeaway: Use pictures to explain, not merely decorate.
Because even a dancing banana cannot rescue a badly designed lesson.
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